Unanimous support for CEQA law, eight months later

When it comes to California’s complicated and controversial environmental review law, the fourth time is apparently the charm.

Eight months, 11 public meetings, three roundtable discussions and countless closed-door talks after it was introduced, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved Supervisor Scott Wiener’s legislation on the city’s appeals process under the California Environment Quality Act. Also known as CEQA, the statewide law requires developers and public agencies to consider a project’s environmental impacts and allows the appeal of projects to local governments.

Wiener is the fourth supervisor in the past decade to attempt to tackle the opaque and complicated environmental appeals process. His proposal, largely aimed at setting a deadline for such appeals, prompted Supervisor Jane Kim to author a competing piece of legislation. But after a slew of changes — including amendments by Supervisor David Chiu that will require more public noticing and were made at Tuesday’s meeting — the full board got behind the measure.

At its core, Wiener said, the final legislation meets all of the goals he set out to tackle. Among its provisions are a requirement that appeals be filed within 30 days of a project’s approval and the creation of a way for citizens to be electronically notified of a project’s progress.

Or, as Supervisor Campos put it, “it strikes the right balance between providing the certainty that Supervisor Wiener spoke about and preserving the public’s right to know — or, actually, enhancing the public’s right to know.”

And, he added, “it’s good to see the Board of Supervisors sing ‘Kumbaya.'”